“Where’s Sarah?” Rafael demands to know.
“You’ll need to speak with Andie about that.”
Declan will defer to whatever Andie wants to do regarding the girl.
“Will you shut the hell up?” I say to the woman on the floor. Her shrieks and screaming wails are giving me a headache, and I can’t hear myself think.
Just as I raise my gun to silence her, Rafael kicks her in the head, the crack of bone loud in the open room. The bitch’s eyes roll until only the whites show, and she collapses sideways onto the floor. I’m greeted with blessed silence.
Rafael doesn’t stop there. Mickey, Pearson, and I stand back and watch as he brings his boot down on her head, over and over, until her skull cracks open. It’s a gory mess. Thank God Pearson covered the floor with a tarp.
With heaving breaths and blood splattered up his legs, Rafael rakes a hand through his hair and looks over at me. This is the savage animal I’d heard stories about.
“I think you’re going to fit right in,” I tell him.
“Fuck you,” he replies, then spits on Meribella’s mangled corpse. “Once my father and Alejandro are dead, I’m done and taking Andie—”
He shuts up and stalks off to the stainless-steel sink, splashing some water over his face.
Andie isn’t going anywhere. If he thinks otherwise, he’ll be sharing a grave alongside the rest of his worthless family.
Chapter 13
The ground floor of Falcon Tower is crawling with Levine’s men. He must have the entire police department in his back pocket for him to live so close to the city’s downtown hub. Rossi had several officers and higher-ranking city officials in his, including a judge and a state representative, so it makes me curious to know who Levine controls.
Jax has been uncharacteristically quiet since he received the message that Levine wanted to meet with us. My friend has been on a warpath the past couple of days, and I don’t trust him not to do something stupid. However, I trust Levine even less.
As soon as our SUV pulls up, we’re met by Levine’s men and taken inside where one guy waves a wand over our clothes while another pats us down for weapons. The guards don’t take them from us like I expect them to and that just makes me even more wary about Levine’s intentions.
“A show of good faith from the boss,” one man says.
“This is a setup,” Jax mumbles low next to my ear.
I agree, but my need to lay eyes on Andie and make sure she’s alive and unharmed overrides my common sense. Levine’s message promised a neutral meeting, meaning he just wants to talk. Guess we’re about to find out if that was a bunch of bullshit.
Dante, Enzo, Marco, and Johnny are told to stay in the lobby while Jax and I are escorted to a private elevator. After a minute, we come to a stop and are met by six more of Levine’s men and one huge, scary motherfucker whose face looks like Jax went to town on it with his knife.
“This way,” the larger man tells us, and I immediately pick up on the Russian accent.
Jax tenses beside me, and I know what he must be thinking. If Levine has the Russians as his allies, things just got much, much worse for us. Max had been trying for years to set up an alliance with the East Coast Bratva. I understand now why those negotiations never succeeded.
Jax and I follow our escorts into a large, open room. A wall of windows showcases the beauty of the city at night, lit up and sparkling like stars. The view is incredible, but I much prefer the quiet countryside outside of city limits. No matter how many rooftop gardens and greenspaces the city adds, it can’t beat fresh air and the deciduous and pine forests that surround the Rossi estate.
“Thank you, Pearson.”
I’ve seen Declan Levine a few times in my life. Funny how he and Max lived in the same city, but they rarely crossed paths. The Irish and the Italians tend not to play well with one another, but since our business interests hardly ever crossed—we’re more gambling, loans, prostitution, and drugs, whereas Levine is one of the largest black-market dealers for guns, weapons, and bombs—there had always been a tentative truce between the two families. Max may have shied away from out-and-out war with him, but there’s a new king in the Rossi castle, and I bow to no-fucking-one. Something Levine is going to learn real quick. He took Andie and turned our brother against us, and for that, he is already a dead man walking.
Perhaps I should thank him. He did take out most of my competition and helped rid the planet of Maximillian Rossi. The man I once looked up to who turned out to be nothing more than a narcissistic pedophile.
Levine approaches us, hands casually dipped into his trouser pockets. He’s wearing a crisp green dress shirt, unbuttoned at the collar, reading glasses hanging from the “V.” But his face is grim and his eyes shrewd—and that’s what catches my attention. He has violet-colored eyes. Eyes like Andie’s. Jax has noticed as well because he tenses next to me.
“Mr. Agosti.” Levine offers me his hand to shake. He turns to Jax to do the same. “And Mr. West. Welcome. Would you like something to drink?” he asks, going over to a wet bar.
Taking out three tumblers, he pours scotch into one, then he adds a perfectly round ice ball into the glass. He takes a sip and sighs like it’s the best taste in the world.
“No, thank you,” I decline.
I want whatever meet-and-greet the hell this is over and done with, so we can find Andie and leave. Because there’s no fucking way we’re leaving here without her. And Levine should be a smart enough man to know that his actions against the Rossis won’t go unpunished.
